Kosher Press In Your Inbox

Ski season begins in northern Israel

January 11, 2015

The Mount Hermon Ski Resort will open on Monday morning for skiers, snowboarders and visitors alike after a week of snow hit northern Israel.

Workers managed to finish preparing the Israeli ski site after a week full of continuous snowfall – the slopes and parking lots were cleared and made ready for the many visitors likely to arrive in order to enjoy some Middle Eastern snow. Workers at the site were unable to predict how long the snow will hold after skiers and snowboarders begin ripping down the mountain and explained that the snow’s duration would also depend on the weather. Snow began falling in the Hermon area last Sunday and even covered the base of the mountain where skiers jump on the ski lifts – 1.7 meters of snow piled up just at the base. The manager of the Hermon Ski Resort, Shaul Ohana, said that snow at the top of the mountain piled up at around the same height as the base due to gusts of wind that blew away the snow. After the slopes were cleaned and prepared for visitors, the snow across the entire mountain reached about 1 meter high. Before the site opens, there is still some work to be done to prepare the chair lifts for visitors, as many of them had been covered in snow and ice. All of the slopes will be open on Monday except for one – the Hashion slope. Meanwhile, residents of northern Israel continue to fix damages that were caused by the cold front – especially to water boilers and agricultural areas. The cold temperatures that reached the Hula Valley caused damages that will cost thousands of shekels to fix. Damage was also done to potato and wheat fields as well as to bee hives whose roofs were blown away due to wind. Dozens of injured Israelis who had slipped in the snow and ice sought treatment at the Ziv Medical Center in Safed. On Sunday, a 35-year-old man from Majal Shams was taken to the medical center in moderate condition after he slipped on ice while leaving his house and injured his head and neck. Another individual, a 42-year-old man, sought medical treatment after he used a “Snow Cat” to fix technical issues at the Hermon post and it fell into a ditch. The man sustained a minor injury and was bruised all over his body.

Storm breaks records

In most places in the country rainfall that fell last week surpassed the long-term average for January as a whole.

According to statistics from the meteorology site “meteo-tech”, during the past week the coldest temperatures measured were at Kibbutz Ortal in the Golan Heights where temperatures stood at -10 degrees Celsius on Saturday – the coldest morning in the country in the current system. In Safed, temperatures reached -4 degrees Celsius and in the Jezreel Valley (Emek Yizra’el) temperatures reached -3 degrees Celsius on Saturday morning. Jerusalem measured in at -2 degrees Celsius, Kiryat Gat 0 degrees, Tel Aviv 2 degrees and Kibbutz Yotvata in southern Israel reached 6 degrees Celsius.

The most temperamental day measured in terms of wind was Wednesday of last week – wind reached 110 mph along the coastal plane. In mountainous areas the wind speed reached 90 mph and in the Negev region wind reached 80 mph. In the Jordan Valley winds were recorded reaching 60 mph.